Norman Greenbaum‘s 1969 hit “Spirit in the Sky” is, along with Nena’s “99 Luftballons” and Lipps, Inc.’s “Funkytown,” one of the definitive one-hit wonders of the rock era. For decades it’s been a ubiquitous presence on classic-rock radio, in commercials and in movies. But how much is really known about both the song and its creator?

Born in Malden, Mass., on Nov. 20, 1942, Greenbaum was raised in an observant Jewish household and developed an interest in folk music at a young age. Upon moving to Los Angeles in 1965, he formed Dr. West’s Medicine Show and Junk Band, who reached No. 52 in 1966 with a novelty song called “The Eggplant That Ate Chicago.” After their breakup, he moved to San Francisco and began a solo career.

But what caused a nice Jewish boy with a background in folk music to write a fuzz-drenched song about Jesus? Not surprisingly, it might have come from an unusual source. “I was taken by [country star] Porter Wagoner,” he once told theExaminer. “He’d wear these snazzy coats that he’d got from Nudie’s in North Hollywood and had a big pompadour. And he was kind of interesting. He had a show on TV and I’d watch it. One day he’s singing this song about a preacher and I said, ‘Wow, that’s a little out of my league to write about preachers and stuff, but I can do it.’ And that’s what I did.”

The words to “Spirit in the Sky” took, by Greenbaum’s estimation, 15 minutes to write. But his lack of knowledge about an essential component of Christianity — that everybody is born a sinner — caused some controversy with the song’s third verse. “I still get strange letters from heavy Christians that find it appalling that I said, ‘Never been a sinner / I never sinned,‘ he explained. “I’m truthful in writing back. I say, ‘You know, I flubbed that part. So what are you going to do?””

But as easy as the lyrics came, the music took considerably longer. “I kept changing it,” he told Classic Bands. “I was never satisfied. … It’s based on an old standard blues riff. However, I changed it. It’s hard to explain.” Greenbaum described how he got the distinct tone on his Fender Telecaster, which had a fuzz box built into its body. “I knew this guy, and he knew electronics. So, rather than having a pedal and everything, he just put this little transmitter thing right into the guitar with an on-off switch. Somehow the sound has never been duplicated. Bands write me all the time, ‘God, I’ve been trying to play that song for years and I can’t even come close.’ Interesting.”

With its handclaps, Russell DaShiell’s lead guitar and the gospel harmonies from the Oakland-based Stovall Sisters, “Spirit in the Sky” resonated with music fans. Released in late 1969, it peaked at No. 3 in April 1970 and sold two million copies. But Greenbaum’s other singles and albums failed on the charts. He eventually got dropped from Reprise Records, and attempts to find a new label failed because he was unwilling to return to the distinctive sound of “Spirit.” Frustrated, he gave up music, lost all his money and went to work as a cook in Northern Cailfornia.

“I thought, ‘Well, that’s it,’ ” Greenbaum told the New York Times. “I was broke. What else could I do? You can’t write another ‘Spirit in the Sky,’ so I’ll do this. I worked my way up from cooking hamburgers to being a sous chef to being a kitchen manager writing menus and cutting meat. I was okay with it.”

His fortunes changed in 1987 when he allowed “Spirit” to be used in the 1987 film Maid to Order. Since then it’s been used in more than 30 major movies — including Ocean’s 11, Apollo 13 and Guardians of the Galaxy — and featured in numerous national television ad campaigns. The Times article noted that every time the song is placed in a high-profile slot, Greenbaum receives at least $10,000, which affords him a two-bedroom apartment in Santa Rosa, Calif.

“Well, it’s not like it’s made me rich,” he said. “But because of ‘Spirit in the Sky,’ I don’t have to work. So in that sense, it’s a comfortable living.”

Led Zeppelin‘s current round of deluxe reissues trades on past glories, but it also embraces the future, as demonstrated by the new video released for a previously unreleased version of “Trampled Under Foot.”

The clip, which you can watch above, was put together by Interlude, a media and technology company whose mission brief includes creating interactive videos that introduce “an element of magic to storytelling, creating an addictive, personalized viewing experience that is different every time.” That’s a tall order, and it’s up to you to determine whether this video fills it, but at the very least, it’s an imaginative new way of looking at a record every Zeppelin fan knows by heart.

The video, set to the “Trampled” rough mix referred to as “Brandy & Coke,” starts with the Physical Graffiti album cover — then takes the viewer inside the building in the picture. “By selecting one of the featured 16 windows, the audience can enter into the room and will discover events that pay homage to the window illustrations on the original artwork,” explains a press release announcing the video. “Featuring archival footage, such as the band’s full Earl’s Court performance of the song, original animation and more, Interlude technology allows viewers to follow and interact with characters from room to room without disrupting the flow of the song.”

The Physical Graffiti reissue, out now, follows a batch of deluxe editions released in 2014, culminating withLed Zeppelin IV and Houses of the Holy last fall. Further installments are expected later this year.

Distinguishing yourself in the colorful musical climate of 1967 wasn’t easy. Merely being one of the most innovative and exciting musicians to ever play the guitar wasn’t enough. Jimi Hendrix had to literally destroy the instrument.

According to manager (and former Animal) Chas Chandler, Hendrix’s guitar carnage began during a European tour in early ’67. The performer had accidentally cracked his ax when climbing back on stage and decided to pull a Pete Townshend and smash the thing. It would become a repeat stunt, depending on Jimi’s mood and the moment.

In March, when the Jimi Hendrix Experience joined a crowded British tour — which included the Walker Brothers, Engelbert Humperdinck and Cat Stevens — Hendrix and Chandler cooked up an entirely new way to get attention from fans and the press. And it had to do with a new song the Experience were playing at their shows, “Fire.”

Chas, Jimi and rock writer Keith Altham were hanging out before the tour’s first show on March 31 at London’s Finsbury Park Astoria, when the journalist suggested that it would be cool if the guitarist played “Fire,” then actually played with fire. A roadie was sent out to buy some lighter fluid and Chandler concocted the plan.

After the Experience concluded their opening set with “Fire,” Hendrix put down his guitar by the amplifiers and sauntered back to the front of the stage as Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding continued to jam. While Jimi was distracting the crowd, Chas doused the Stratocaster in the fuel. Hendrix grabbed the guitar, knelt beside it and, after a few burnt matches, set it alight. Due to the amount of fluid on the instrument, the flames soared to a height of four feet, burning Jimi’s hands in the process. The emcee, rushing to extinguish the fire, also suffered minor burns. Although Hendrix was able to perform the finale on another guitar, he was later treated for his injuries at the hospital.

The headlining Walker Brothers weren’t thrilled about being upstaged by this upstart and, reportedly, treated Jimi and friends rather poorly for the rest of the tour. Hendrix didn’t set any more guitars literally on fire on that tour, although he would repeat the stunt during his band’s legendary performance at the Monterey International Pop Music Festival a few months later.

In 2008, after spending decades in storage, the scorched 1965 Fender Stratocaster that Hendrix used on that March night sold for more than $450,000 at auction. That’s a chunk of change to spend in order to stand next to (the remnant of) Jimi’s fire.

See the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Other Rockers in the Top 100 Albums of the ’80s

On May 19, Sammy Hagar will release At Your Service, a live album culled from dates of his 2014 tour with his new band the Circle. You can listen to the exclusive premiere of their take on Van Halen‘s “Poundcake” below.

Hagar put together the Circle last year with two people he’s worked with regularly — former Van Halen and Chickenfoot bassist Michael Anthony and Waboritas guitarist Vic Johnson — plus drummer Jason Bonham. Their Journey Through the History of Rock tour last year was comprised of songs from throughout Hagar’s entire history: Montrose, Van Halen, Chickenfoot and his solo career.

At Your Service contains 19 tracks, including instrumental solos from Anthony, Bonham and Johnson. They also cover four Led Zeppelin songs: ”Good Times Bad Times,” “Whole Lotta Love,” “When the Levee Breaks” and “Rock and Roll.” (Fans who pre-order the album will get an instant download of “Poundcake.”)

In April, Hagar will begin a new series of dates with the Circle. They will stick mostly to the South through mid-May, then head to the Midwest in the summer. You can get all the dates at Hagar’s website.

Norman Greenbaum, whose song “Spirit in the Sky” hit No. 3 in 1970, is currently in critical condition in a Santa Rosa, Calif., hospital after a car in which he was a passenger was involved in an accident that has left one person dead.

According to the Press Democrat, Greenbaum was riding in a Subaru Outback on Saturday (March 28) when the driver, Bonita Perea, made a left turn. Motorcyclist Ihab Usama Halaweh was traveling in the other direction and struck the car where Greenbaum was sitting. Halaweh was killed instantly, while his passenger, Nhmia Mekonnen Kahsay, was seriously injured and, along with Greenbaum, is in critical condition at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

The California Highway Patrol have already ruled out alcohol as a factor, but they are still investigating the accident, including the speed of the motorcycle.

The article states that Halaweh, 20, was an avid motorcyclist who often posted pictures of 2004 Suzuki GSX-R600, which he called “my baby,” on his Facebook page. In January, he said that he was hoping “to get a few stunts down” before summer.

When ’80s glam metal titans Ratt came crawling Out of the Cellar with their debut on March 27, 1984, that title may as well have spoken for an entire generation of brash, ambitious wannabe stars, whose desperate drive for fame and glory had been fomented by years of neglect from the music industry at large.

Ever since Van Halen had broken through soft rock’s velvet-gloved stranglehold upon the Southern California music scene in the late-‘70s, hundreds of bright eyed hopefuls had been migrating into Tinsel Town to try and follow in Van Halen’s snakeskin boots — and still record label executives seemed to have blinders on.

Not until Quiet Riot’s Metal Health, and then Motley Crue’s Shout at the Devil, attained impressive sales and chart benchmarks of their own in 1983 did all eyes suddenly seem to focus like spotlights on the Sunset Strip, and in the inevitable signing spree that followed, it was the quintet known simply as Ratt which rose to the top to become the movement’s next breakout story.

But Ratt was was anything but an overnight sensation, having started out as Mickey Ratt all the way back in 1976, and undergone multiple lineup mutations (including a long stretch with future Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee) until 1983, when vocalist Stephen Pearcy, guitarists Robbin Crosby and Warren DeMartini, bassist Juan Croucier and drummer Bobby Blotzer finally got a chance to record an eponymous EP for a local independent label.

Once the following year’s belated burst of record label interest saw Ratt snapped up by mighty Atlantic Records, the quintet was beyond ready for its close-up, thanks to a wealth of material written over the years (together and with several side bands) that allowed them to make short work of recording the aforementioned Out of the Cellar at famed Sound City Recording Studios with the help of producer Beau Hill.

The results, once released, helped define the hair metal aesthetic that would rule the remainder of the decade, on songs like “Wanted Man,” “Back for More” and “Lack of Communication,” combining the hit-making hooks of Van Halen with the classic American hard rock of Aerosmith, the staccato riffs of Judas Priest and their European metal brethren thrown in as a twist.

And in the Top 5 rock radio smash, “Round and Round,” Ratt delivered what is arguably the definitive single from the L.A. metal scene, bar none — complete with a memorable music video starring Hollywood legend Milton Berle (whose brother Marshall managed the group) that became a staple of MTV, lifted Out of the Cellar to No. 7 on the Billboard chart, and turned thousands upon thousands of new fans across the country onto the hot new sound emanating from the Sunset Strip.

Indeed, not even cynical critics could stop the Ratt juggernaut from winning what seemed like a sprint for ‘80s metal supremacy in a year when some of heavy metal’s older generation of marathon runners — including Priest and the Scorpions, whose career-making Love at First Sting was released on the very same day as Out of the Cellar — were finally earning some long deserved gold and platinum medals of their own in this new age of metal.

On March 28, 1973, Led Zeppelin released their fifth and arguably most wide-ranging album, Houses of the Holy.

After releasing their first four records in just under three years, Zeppelin were finally afforded just a bit of breathing room with which to create Houses of the Holy. The record came out 16 months after their landmark (and technically untitled) Led Zeppelin IV. They responded by delivering some of their most complex, nuanced work ever, and by exploring new genres on tracks such as the reggae-influenced “D’yer Mak’er” and the funky James Brown-inspired “The Crunge.”

“Although everyone was clamoring for another Led Zeppelin IV, it’s very dangerous to try and duplicate yourself,” guitarist Jimmy Page explains in the book Light & Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page. “I won’t name any names, but I’m sure you’ve heard bands that endlessly repeat themselves. After four or five albums, they just burn up. With us, you never knew what was coming next.”

“Got ‘Houses of the Holy’ on the box / I got it all cranked up / ‘Cause yeah, that s— rocks!”
- Chickenfoot, ‘Big Foot‘

Highlights of the LP include the dynamic folk- and rock-mashing “Over the Hills and Far Away,” the beautifully intricate ballad “The Rain Song” and the moody, keyboard-heavy John Paul Jones showcase “No Quarter.” The album closes with a Robert Plant-penned love song to the band’s fans, “The Ocean,” which features one of the most famous count-ins of all-time courtesy of drummer John Bonham: “We’ve done four already but now we’re steady…”

In order to keep things down to single-vinyl length, the band reportedly left future classic songs such as “The Rover,” “Black Country Woman” and most famously, “Houses of the Holy” either unfinished or unreleased following the recording sessions.

When asked why the intended title track never made the album, Plant refused to lie to Get the Led Out author Danny Somach, instead declaring, “Being silly, isn’t it? I mean, I could go into some great profound reasoning, but… I can’t even remember why. I think we thought, ‘Well, we’ll hold onto that and we’ll do something (with it).’ It was just having a laugh.”

Led Zeppelin underwent a massive tour in support of Houses of the Holy, which found the band glitzing up their stage show with lasers, mirror balls, pyrotechnics, fancier outfits and the like. Naturally, they broke just about every box office record known to mankind.

Despite traveling around the world in a swanky, custom-painted jumbo jet, the trek (and no doubt, the cumulative effect of their previous several years) left the band exhausted. It would be 18 months before they toured again, and nearly two years before they released their next record, 1975′s double-album masterpiece Physical Graffiti.

In March of 2000, one of the uglier stories to surface in the wake of John Bonham‘s death ended in a legal victory for Jimmy Page.

The report in question, published by Ministry Magazine in August of 1999, used the fact that Bonham died in his Led Zeppelin bandmate’s home as the basis for accusing Page of having “selfishly and stupidly caused or contributed” to Bonham’s death on Sept. 25, 1980, alleging that Page was more worried about keeping Bonham’s vomit off his bed than helping him survive — and imagining a weird and insulting fantasy scenario in which Page donned “Satanist robes” and attempted to cast a spell over his dying friend.

The article added undue insult and injury to an incident that had already cast a profound pall over Page — not only personally, but professionally, as Led Zeppelin decided to break up mere months after Bonham’s passing, bringing an end to one of rock’s most exciting bands. Not willing to let Ministry’s gaffe pass without punishment, he took the magazine to to court.

The case ended with a quick vindication for Page. According to the BBC, publishers Ministry Magazines Ltd. and editor Scott Manson “expressed their sincere apologies for the distress and embarrassment caused and had agreed to pay Page substantial damages, as well as his legal costs.”

In the end, some good came out of the ugly untruths. Page’s attorney, Norman Chapman, told reporters that Page would be taking the settlement — which remained undisclosed — and donating it to his favorite charity, the Action for Brazil’s Children Trust, an organization dedicated to bringing education and basic health services to youth in that country’s most densely populated slums.

It’s finally here: the first teaser trailer for Spectre, the next installment in the James Bond franchise. After months of set photos and teases, we have our first legitimate look at the new 007 film, which promises to reveal some dark secrets Daniel Craig’s Bond has been hiding for years and years, as well as the shadowy figure that has something to do with it.

The first teaser for Spectre definitely delivers on the teases — it’s dark, moody and tinged with intrigue. It opens with Moneypenny alluding to a secret that Bond’s been keeping for years, unable to completely trust anyone (and after years of being seduced and tricked, why would he?). That secret appears to have something to do with the Spectre organization, the logo of which is displayed on a mysterious ring before we meet a figure obscured by shadow — Christoph Waltz, anyone?

There are also some glimpses of snowy terrain, Monica Bellucci’s Lucia Sciarra in a sexy veil, and a meeting with Jesper Christensen’s Mr. White, who describes Bond as a kite dancing in a hurricane — whatever that means.

In addition to Craig and returning cast members Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris and Rory Kinnear, the cast will be joined by Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Monica Bellucci, David Bautista and Andrew Scott.

A cryptic message from Bond’s past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organisation. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind SPECTRE.

In their brief five-year history, the Yardbirds gained a reputation as the breeding ground for three of classic rock’s most legendary guitarists. They made their first switch in March 1965, when Eric Clapton left and was quickly replaced by Jeff Beck.

The band’s first album, Five Live Yardbirds, established them as one of the top bands on the London blues scene when it was released the previous December with Clapton. He had even, by this time, acquired the self-mocking nickname of “Slowhand,” after the audience’s derisive slow hand-clapping when a Yardbirds set came to a halt after he broke a string.

Behind the scenes, Clapton was not happy. He was regularly fighting with bassist Paul Samwell-Smith and manager Giorgio Gomelsky over the direction of the band. Their aspirations toward pop music clashed with Clapton’s purist devotion to the blues. The song they had chosen for their next single, a composition by future 10cc member Graham Gouldman that featured no guitar called “For Your Love,” was one of the sticking points. To placate Clapton, they added a bridge that allowed him to play a few bars of rhythm, but it wasn’t enough. After the song was released, Clapton jumped ship to John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers.

On Clapton’s suggestion, the Yardbirds approached a session guitarist they knew, Jimmy Page, to replace him. But Page was doing too well financially in the studio to join a fledgling band. Besides, he was unwilling to replace a musician of Clapton’s stature. Instead, he recommended Beck.

Their new guitarist in tow, the Yardbirds built upon the success of “For Your Love” with a string of hit singles, including “Heart Full of Soul” “I’m a Man,” “Shapes of Things” and “Over Under Sideways Down.” Samwell-Smith quit in the summer of 1966. By this time, Page was tiring of the studio and joined the group as their bassist. Shortly after, they made another switch, with rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja swapping instruments with Page, and giving them a twin-guitar attack. This lineup didn’t last long — Beck was fired in late 1966 — but they did appear onscreen performing “Stroll On” in a famous scene in Michaelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up.

Page stayed on as the group’s only guitarist, but the Yardbirds’ commercial prospects were fading, and they broke up in the summer of 1968. That September, Page launched a group called the New Yardbirds, but their name was soon changed to Led Zeppelin.

The Rush discography is full of beautiful album covers, and artist Hugh Syme has been there every step of the way. On May 1, he’s getting his due with a new book, The Art of Rush: Serving a Life Sentence.

Syme, who’s been responsible for the band’s artwork since 1975′s Caress of Steel, sees his work collected in a 272-page coffee table book that includes analysis from author Stephen Humphries and interviews with Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart — as well as the artist himself, whose distinguished list of credits also includes work for Megadeth, Whitesnake, Iron Maiden, Queensrÿche and Aerosmith.

“From the first time Hugh and I met, we shared a level of communication that would sustain us through all the years of discussing art by long distance,” says Peart in a press release announcing the book. “We had the same values and tastes in images and design, and simply spoke the same language. That’s why I offhandedly referred to him one time as ‘serving a life sentence as my art director.’”

The Art of Rush: Serving a Life Sentence will be published in three versions: the Classic Edition, a signed and numbered Special Edition that’s being produced in a limited 250-copy run and the extremely scarce Roadcase Deluxe Limited Edition, which consists of 100 copies that have been signed by Syme and the band and bound in a custom slipcase with a signed lithograph and metal-plated casing. Pre-orders begin March 27, and can be placed through the band’s Backstage Club online store.

]]>http://kool1017.com/art-of-rush-book/feed/0AnthemWhat's It Like To Float Above The John G. Munson While It Leaves Duluth For Shipping Seasonhttp://kool1017.com/whats-it-like-to-float-above-the-john-g-munson-while-it-leaves-duluth-for-shipping-season/
http://kool1017.com/whats-it-like-to-float-above-the-john-g-munson-while-it-leaves-duluth-for-shipping-season/#commentsWed, 25 Mar 2015 20:35:16 +0000Chris Allenhttp://kool1017.com/?p=232427The 2015 shipping season has officially started, and Drone Star was there to capture it. The “John G. Munson” became the first ship of the 2015 shipping season to depart Duluth. It reached the open waters of Lake Superior just before 5:30pm on March 23, 2015

Drone Star (facebook)(web site) gave me permission to share these wonderful pictures for you to enjoy taken from the air.

Metallica and Paul McCartney have been announced as the headliners of Lollapalooza 2015. The festival takes place between July 31 and August 2 in Chicago’s Grant Park. They’re playing different nights, so sadly the “Helter Skelter” jam session you’re already dreaming about is probably not going to happen.

Van Halen will tour North America this summer and fall in support of their upcoming concert album, Tokyo Dome Live in Concert. The tour will kick off in Seattle on July 5 and wrap up in Los Angeles on Oct. 2.

In between, the band will play more than three dozen shows across the continent, with stops in Chicago, Cleveland, Toronto, Dallas and Phoenix. You can see the full list of tour dates below.

David Lee Roth – who sang on the band’s most recent studio LP, 2012′s A Different Kind of Truth – will be on board for the tour, which will include the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band as the opening act on all dates.

In addition to the upcoming tour, the band will perform a concert on Jimmy Kimmel Live on March 30 and 31, the day Tokyo Dome Live in Concert comes out. It’s being touted as the band’s first U.S. TV appearance with Roth. (Van Halen are also scheduled to perform on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on April 2.)

The upcoming live set — the group’s first with Roth — includes 23 songs from the seven albums the band recorded with its original singer. The album documents a show recorded on June 21, 2013, in Tokyo.

On the same day that record is released, Van Halen are reissuing remastered versions of Van Halen and 1984, with new versions of Van Halen II, Women and Children First, Fair Warning and Diver Down to follow in the spring.

David Crosby hit a jogger with his car this afternoon. According to TMZ, the 73-year-old singer-songwriter was driving his 2015 Tesla through California wine country at 55 mph when he hit the pedestrian.

According to the report, the jogger was airlifted to the hospital after receiving multiple fractures and lacerations from the accident. His injuries were not life-threatening.

Crosby told police that he was “blinded by the sun when the accident happened.” The police reports states that alcohol or drugs, which Crosby has had a long public battle with, were not a factor in the accident.

TMZ reports that police are still investigating the accident and that Crosby immediately stopped his vehicle after hitting the 46-year-old jogger.

UPDATE:A newly released 911 call finds Crosby likewise telling police that the sun’s glare blocked his vision, while the singer repeatedly pleads for first responders to hurry to the scene of the accident.

Crosby was in the news just a couple weeks ago after he took some shots at fellow artists in a string of tweets. Most notably, he called Kanye West an idiot and a poser, and referred to Beach BoyMike Love as “not a good person.”

See Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Other Rockers in the Top 100 Albums of the ’70s

Earlier today we learned that Def Leppard were planning something special for the beginning of next year. Well, it didn’t take long for the full announcement to be made. The group will embark on the Hysteria on the High Seas cruise from Jan. 21-25, 2016.

According to their website, Def Leppard will sail on the MSC Divina from Miami, with stops at Half Moon Cay (a private island) and Freeport in the Bahamas. “Your days and nights will be filled with music, theme nights and special events,” the press release says, while adding that more details, including ticket information, are expected soon. Members of Def Leppard’s Rock Brigade club will be able to book one week before the general public.

Guitarist Vivian Campbell hinted at the news recently when he laid out the band’s plans for the next year. Talking about their tour schedule, which includes a summer run through North America with Styx and Tesla, Campbell noted, “And then we’re gonna do something unique that we’ve never done before, next January, which will be announced very soon.”

Launched in 2012, the MSC Divina was named in honor of the actress Sophia Loren, and one of the suites in its private Yacht Club was designed by her, complete with a replica of her dressing table and pictures of her throughout. MSC calls the ship the “godmother of our fleet.” It includes more than 1,500 staterooms, numerous restaurants and clubs, 150 fountains, a waterpark, a spa, an adults-only infinity pool and a Formula 1 racing simulator.

AJ Pero, the drummer for Twisted Sister, has died at the age of 55. No cause of death has been revealed, but he passed away in his sleep while on the tour bus of Adrenaline Mob, which he joined in December 2013.

Twisted Sister posted a message on its Facebook page: “The members of Twisted Sister are profoundly saddened to announce the untimely passing of our brother, AJ Pero. The band, crew and most importantly the family of AJ Pero thank you for your thoughts and prayers at this time.”

Adrenaline Mob posted the below statement, as well as a recent picture, to its Facebook page.

Anthony Jude Pero, a native of Staten Island, joined Twisted Sister in 1982 after they had gone through a series of drummers. With Pero behind the kit, they broke through with Stay Hungry, their 1984 major-label debut. He left in 1987, after the tour in support of Come Out and Play. But he rejoined the group after it reunited in 1997 and had been a member ever since.

Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider released a statement on Pero’s passing. He wrote, “Today I lost a brother. Anthony Jude Pero passed away. A.J. was the final piece in a band that would become an international sensation and one of the greatest live rock acts to ever hit the stage. His sledgehammer assault on the drums helped drive Twisted Sister and me to greatness and inspired me to rock every single show. My heart breaks knowing I will never feel the power of his beat behind me, or turn to see his face smiling broadly from the sheer joy he got from doing what he loved. I will always remember that smile. RIP my friend.”

According to the bio on his website, Pero began drumming at the age of 3 and took lessons from jazz legend Gene Krupa. He became somewhat of a prodigy, having appeared on both the Mike Douglas Show and the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon by the time he was 10.

In addition to playing in Twisted Sister, Pero was also a member of Cities, which bookended his first tenure in Twisted Sister. He and Cities guitarist Steve Mironovich formed Circle of Thorns in 2007.

Avengers 2 doesn’t open for another few weeks, but deep inside Marvel headquarters they’ve already begun turning their attention to the next big movie: Captain America: Civil War. Frequently referred to as Avengers 2.5 because of the sheer amount of superheroes packed into this one film — Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, Falcon, Black Panther, Spider-Man and Hawkeye are all confirmed to star — the third Captain America movie might be the biggest superhero film yet. As Marvel gets ready to begin filming, a casting call has given us our first look at the film’s plot.

According to Screenrant, Captain America: Civil War is looking for extras who live in or around the Atlanta area to join the production, which is scheduled to begin on April 1. In addition to Atlanta, Anthony Mackie previously confirmed that the film would also shoot in Puerto Rico and Berlin. (Berlin makes sense because of the Hydra/Baron Zemo connection, but Puerto Rico is an interesting addition.)

The casting call included this brief synopsis, most of which we already knew or assumed based on the existing comic line, but it’s interesting to note that it won’t just be Captain America and Iron Man going to war against each other.

Following the events of Age of Ultron, the collective governments of the world pass an act designed to regulate all superhuman activity. This polarizes opinion amongst the Avengers, causing two factions to side with Iron Man or Captain America, which causes an epic battle between former allies.

What’s interesting is that this is only part of the plot of Civil War. There’s still the issue of Cap hunting down Bucky/The Winter Soldier, the return of Crossbones (Frank Grillo) and the introduction of Baron Zemo (Daniel Bruhl). That’s a lot of stuff to go down in one superhero. But, Marvel was determined to top Batman vs. Superman and the introduction of the Justice League, and this might just be the way to do it.

Saying he’d already apologized to Aldrich (and called himself a “jackass”) for singling out the guitar player on Twitter by asking “which Whitesnake album of importance” Aldrich played on and adding, “I’m tired of musicians who joined famous bands after their heyday claiming they are from those bands,” Snider explained where he was coming from when he posted those tweets, saying it all started when he drove past a billboard for Las Vegas’ Raiding the Rock Vault show and saw it advertising an appearance by “Doug Aldrich From Whitesnake.”

“I said ‘Doug Aldrich?’ I’ve met Doug, I know he played with Whitesnake. I’m going, ‘From Whitesnake?’ This show proclaims they have all these great people from these great bands,” said Snider. “Doug Aldrich — that came in, like, 2008! And to claim that he was from Whitesnake, it really irked me. And that’s why I did that. I tweeted, ‘What important record did he play on?’”

As Snider went on to argue, his comment came from a place of respect for the founding members of bands that achieved success the old-fashioned way — “the people that were in the van, that were on Sunset Strip selling tickets for pay-to-play shows” — who sometimes end up being swept aside during the lineup changes that affect so many veteran bands. As he pointed out, he never went on the road as “Twisted Sister” without the other band members — and he sees a big distinction between being in a band and playing with a band.

Using guitarist Al Pitrelli’s stints with Asia and Megadeth as an example, Snider continued, “He’s a paid sideman. He’s on salary. He’s not a band member. None of these guys are band members.” Calling the practice of billing post-peak players as “of” or “from” a famous group “misleading to the public,” he added, “There are guys today who are in Guns N’ Roses? Dude, you’re not in Guns N’ Roses. You’re playing with Axl Rose. … I’m sorry, man. I’m sorry. If you’re hired [to play in] a band after their heyday, I don’t care if you played with them for three decades.”

Using his long-running radio show House of Hair as an example of this principle in action, Snider added, “We’ve never played a Whitesnake record with a Doug Aldrich song on it. I’m sorry, Doug. We’ve never played a Kiss record with any of the guys after Bruce Kulick. Why? Because we’re a hits show. We play hits. We plays songs people know, songs people wanna hear, songs people love. … These are the defining records, these are the defining musicians, this is the music of these people’s lives, and that’s what my show gives to them.”

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As Bachman told us during a recent chat, the “heavy” was an important piece of the puzzle when it came to recording the new songs. “Well, it was intentional to try to get the power of the late ‘60s,” he says. “Before that, bands used to have two guitars, bass and drums — you know, the Ventures, the Shadows, the Beatles, the [Rolling] Stones — there was always an extra guitar. To suddenly be missing that guitar and the power of guitar, bass and drums that was Cream, [Jimi] Hendrix, [Led] Zeppelin and the Who, it gave each guy a little bit more space to fill in with licks and rolls, and then you got more out of a three-piece than you did out of a four-piece as far as individuals playing. It sort of created something different.”

The album features a number of guest guitarists playing the guitar solos. On the title track, it’s Peter Frampton, whose playing, Bachman says, “is amazing. He hasn’t played this way since Humble Pie’sRockin’ The Fillmore in 1970, you know? Because people think of Frampton doing his … crazy [talkbox] thing, which is cool, but he’s really an incredible guitar player.”

Working with producer Kevin Shirley, Bachman laid down the tracks for Heavy Blues live in the studio, just like the old days. “Way back to [the] BTO days,” he says. “When you’re doing it live and you’re producing yourself, you’re kind of running back and forth. You do a track, and you’ve got to put down your guitar and run back and listen to the playback. He’d just be sitting there and he’d stop us halfway through and say, ‘Wait a minute, that’s not fast enough’ and ‘That’s not heavy enough — let’s start over, you’ve got the energy — kick it up a few beats a minute.’ So we counted in faster and we played it live, pretty much without a click track, just doing them. We’d give him two or three takes and he would say, ‘That’s it, we’re done.’”

The energy that was captured working in that way was further amplified by working in the power trio format, and for Bachman, it was a dream that finally had come true. “I kind of always wanted that and just found it by accident,” he reveals. “First, this girl [drummer Dale Anne Brendon] who played like Keith Moon and also like John Bonham. And when I met Anna [Ruddick], the bass player, she was wearing a John Entwistle T-shirt, and I found out she studied John Entwistle, she studied bass at McGill University in Montreal and got a degree in stand-up bass and jazz composition. They studied Jack Bruce and John Entwistle for fun. When I said to them, I don’t want you to play your instruments like normal people, I want you to attack them — like Keith Moon didn’t play drums and neither did John Bonham. They hit them like they were in a bar fight, and they didn’t want the drums to get up. They just pounded their face off.”

Bachman clearly was happy with the recorded results and during our conversation, he issued a challenge to everybody who gets a copy of the new album: “Burn a CD and put it in your car, go out on a nice day with the windows down and don’t get a speeding ticket — because the songs get more and more powerful and faster, you find yourself speeding and singing along and it’s like it’s 1969 again and you’re 18 years of age, driving along, you’ve got your driver’s license and it’s a rock ‘n’ roll summer, and suddenly there’s a red light flashing in your rear mirror and it’s the cops because you’re speeding.”

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